Visit to Gloucester

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We visited Gloucester with my cousin over the New Year in 2006. We explored the Gloucester Cathedral, strolled through the town and Gloucester Docks. Unfortunately, the National Waterway Museum and other museums were closed on 31 December 2006. Having heard from the museum fro one of our friends, we wanted to visit there for a long time, but the plan was cancelled twice, flooding in summer 2007 and the refurbishment that needed to be carried out in 2008 following the flooding.

I checked the website of National Waterway Museum, and found that the museum opens on the weekends between November and M arch. Thus, we took the time off work between 27 February and 2 March 2009. We took British Rail from Paddington on 27 February and it brought us Gloucester at 2pm. We then walked to Lulworth Hotel, Midland road near the Gloucester City Park.

After having a rest at the hotel, we walked to Gloucester Cathedral. We found the House of the Tailor of Gloucester near the Cathedral. The establishment possessed comprehensive archives, records, and photos in relation to the story of John Prichard, known as the Tailor of Gloucester, as well as numerous goods of Beautrix Potters' books characters.

We popped in the Gloucester Cathedral, and looked round the shop, cathedral, and the glazed fan-vaulted cloisters, which was used for Harry Potter's film.


Thai Restaurant
We noted that there were number of restaurants in the city centre. We popped in the Thai Restaurant, Park Road near our hotel on 27 February. We were given the menu, saying that the special offer of £13.99 would allow you to choose dishes as much as possible. We chose dishes as a main course, and thus the waiter brought the normal menu book. In the end, we decided to have; spring rolls and duck ribs as a starter, rice noodle, fish and meat dishes as a main course.

Antique Centre, Gloucester Docks
After having breakfast at Lulworth Hotel, we walked to the Gloucester Docks. There were more number of cars than the last time we visited. Knowing that the National Waterway Museum was due to open at 11:00, we headed to the Antique Centre.

There were many types of goods displayed and selling - furniture, Royal featured porcelain, second hand books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, accessories, children's toys, bags, and shoes, to name just a few. We bought a couple of books in the Antique Centre.

The National Waterway Museum
After 11:00, we walked to the National Waterway Museum. mark presented a discount for the admissions. The refurbishment museum offered us comprehensive collections of maritime items, e.g. different types of engines, fishing boats, freight boats that used to convey materials from Gloucester to other part of the UK, and models of barrels, carrying bags, floating boats, boats with floral patterns, and displays of women's role on boat, and hard life of the former employees who are involved in constructing and running boats. We also watched the video showing how the boats were used during the Industrial Revolutions, and Victorian era, and we learnt that many freight boats have been converted to the pleasure boats.

We had lunch at the cafe near the National Waterway Museum. We strolled around the Docks. There were a lot of former industry's traces, e.g. the rails for the trolley's conveying materials and display of the tractors, etc. We also noted charming accommodation boats mooring in the water.

Gloucester Folk Museum
We decided to look round the Gloucester Folk Museum. The charming house offered us to see plenty of historical items, industrial machines and equipment, which have been contributed by the local people. We saw a number of retrospect 1970s household gadgets, kitchen sets, washing machines, showrooms of old-fashioned show repair shop, Victorian school room, ironmonger's shop, children's toys, fishermen's houses with information panels of their life, agricultural tools, and wheelwright, etc. The collection conveyed us sound pictures of the past history and prosperous industry of Gloucester and surrounding farms.

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel.

Indian and Tandoor Restaurant
Whist strolling around Westgate Street, Mark noted a couple of Indian and Tandoori Restaurants. We went to the Indian Restaurant on Westgate for dinner on 28 February. We selected two rice dishes, Tandoori dish, lamb curry and klink naan bread.

Via Sacre in Gloucester
Mark noticed that some of the museums were closed on Sundays, and thought we follow the historical routes suggested by the Tourist Board. He is good at reading the map, and I just followed him and listened to his explanations.

We found the statue of Robert Raike in the Gloucester Park. Having read the information, we understood that he was the Sunday School Founder. Gloucester has an abundance of historic relics scattered from corner to corner, e.g. murals of the walls of the Marks & Spencer.

There were scores of ancient relics and medieval buildings around the Cathedral. It was interesting to see the former tower of St John's Church on St Lucy Garden, where we could see the actual church on the south direction. Spring flowers had just come out and presented colourful carpet on the lawn.

There were quite a few ancient and well-preserved monuments and statues on the west of the Cathedral such as Bishop Hooper's Monument, St Oswald Priory, King Charles II statue, or St Mary de Lude. There were several medieval timber houses along the Martyr Walk, which made the space even more charming and intriguing. King's Charles II's statue was located at the very hidden place among the residential houses. The booklet which Mark was following explained that St Nicholas Church is regarded a s landmark, as well as the Cathedral.

I found it interesting to see the story teller's bench on the backyard of St Mary de Crypt. Each sculpture on the back and foot represented different expressions and tells the features of the famous story.

We then walked to the Docks via Gloucester Park, and reached Lalanthony Priory. The remains of the former palace and church were very well-preserved. On the way back to the Historic Docks, we saw the bridge flying up for the big boat going through, which is very rare these days. I managed to approach nearer when it happened, although it was actually going down.

We planned having English cream tea for lunch. Unfortunately, many tea rooms were closed due to Sunday. We had sandwiches served at one of the pubs on Westgate Street.

Alrey Island Local Nature Reserve
We decided to explore Alrey Island Local Nature Reserved in the afternoon. We entered the site via the bridge near the Antique Centre. We walked past the marshes, River Severn, woodlands, and ambled on bridges over the River Severn. The footpath was leading to the Cotswolds Way and would take us to the nearby village. It was extremely peaceful and quiet on the marshes. We just met a handful number of people and dogs along the route. We could see the Cathedral and St Nicholas Church and Gloucester City beyond and it offered a pleasant walk. We had light refreshment at the cafe in the Docks.

The spring had arrived around Gloucester. We saw crocuses blooming in the Gloucester Park.

We planned having dinner at the old-fashioned fish & chips restaurant near the Cathedral. Unfortunately, we found that the restaurant was closed on Sunday evenings. Instead, we found an authentic Italian Restaurant on Southgate Street. We both had pasta/spaghetti with fish, salad and dessert. We hadn't had the puddings for the past few days, so we were delighted to have the dessert.
We checked out the hotel on 2 March, and went back to London at the late morning. We enjoyed our long break at Gloucester.

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